COLLEGE PARK, Ga. -- Fulton County police say a brother, taking his three sisters to school, lost control of the car on Feldwood Road and slammed into a tree. All four were taken to the hospital.

"It almost sounded like a bomb. I didn't think of it even being a car accident until I saw several of the neighbors running up," said Kim Herron who heard the crash while working inside her house.

Stacy Hunter also ran out when she heard the sound. She said around ten this morning the driver, 20-year-old Antavious Roach hit her mailbox, then skid across her driveway into the tree.

The air bags deployed, but police say at least two of the children were not wearing seatbelts. Neighbors saw smoke coming from the engine and feared it might go up in flames, so they started pulling the family out of the car.

"The seven year old, I saw the bone that was hanging out of her leg," Hunter said.

Hunter said she held her hand, trying to comfort her, as the girl asked if she was going to die. Even more heartbreaking than her question, was her silence.

"Because she just kept trying to go to sleep and I was like no, no don't go to sleep," she said.

The girl was air-lifted to Egleston hospital. Her five and 13-year-old sisters soon followed in ambulances of their own. Their brother was taken to Grady Hospital for treatment.

Hours later, Kim Herron still couldn't shake the image of the children lying on the ground, their bodies covered to hide the injuries.

"Just seeing the little girl's tennis shoes I think underneath all that, that was so hard for me. Just knowing they were young children just laying on the roadway and just feeling so helpless as a mom," Herron said.

Police said all three girls went into surgery Friday afternoon, but none of their injuries appeared life threatening.

There's still no word what caused the vehicle to veer off the road, but police have charged Roach with failure to maintain a lane and two counts of child restraint violation.

Police do not believe the accident is related to any criminal activity.